Online ads boost TV recall

28 February 2013

NEW YORK: Advertisers can increase reach, recall and effectiveness by shifting 15% of their TV budget to digital channels, a new study has argued.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau, the industry body comprising media and technology companies, commissioned research from Nielsen, the research provider, in this area. A total of 18 real TV schedules were examined across a number of categories.

A similar, if lesser, result was achieved by combining TV with online display ads. Consumers were 25% more likely to recall a brand if they had seen the display ad before seeing the ad on TV.

"It's eye-opening to discover that viewers actually have an easier time naming the brand behind a TV commercial if they have had the opportunity to be introduced to the creative first on a digital screen," said Sherrill Mane, senior vice president of research, analytics and measurement at IAB.

The research showed that by using the combination of channels reach grew by 3.4% for consumer packaged goods and an average 6.2% across technology, automotive, retail, finance and telecoms.

This increased reach was achieved at lower cost, dropping from an average of $67,600 to $63,000 per point of reach.

When TV and online video ads were compared, online video campaigns proved to have a greater impact than TV when it came to general recall, brand recall, message recall, and ad likeability.

General recall was found to be 39% higher for video ads shown online than on TV, while brand recall, message recall, and ad likeability were almost double.

The study also looked at ad receptivity and established that the average digital video viewer watches 87% of a video ad, with mid-roll ads having the highest completion rates.